Searching for Lost Souls
by writerneedstosurvive
Summary: It's been seven years since Aang defeated Firelord Ozai and the old gang has split up and followed their own paths. Old questions and new conflicts arise, knotting the lives of the travelers once again as fate unravels after years of dormancy.


_Prologue_

_It has been seven years since Avatar Aang has defeated Firelord Ozai and peace and balance was returned to the three nations. It was a peace that was received with suspicion, a balance that was shaky, but it was peace and balance nonetheless. It is hard to be at peace after a hundred years of war, and it is hard to become balanced when one of four nations was forever destroyed._

_Shortly after Ozai's defeat, the rag-tag group of travelers responsible for his downfall—banished prince Zuko; his uncle, Iroh; blind noble girl Toph; Avatar Aang; Southern Water Tribe peasant Katara; and her brother Sokka—spent merry time together as a family. They all came from broken families, but together they mended those gaps. However, after some time, this family dispersed._

_First to grow distant was Zuko. In the first few months after his coronation he frequently visited Iroh's teashop in Ba-Sing-Se. His visits started to become few and far apart as he took up more and more duties as Firelord. After some months, he stopped visiting Iroh's teashop altogether. He married Mai, but their marriage was short-lived as they quickly grew bored of each other and divorced on mutual terms as friends: it just never really worked out; there was never animosity. On his part, he was bored with the civilized life of a Firelord and yearned for adventure—and love—but Zuko continued as a responsible Firelord after the divorce—it had little impact on him—with but one dark secret: at the beginning of every month, he visited his psychotic sister Azula wishing to help the broken girl, but always unable to; and his father in his remote cell with one hard, cold question. This question he asked every month; and silence answered his question every time. He always returned to his palace broken like his family._

_Next to leave the others was Avatar Aang, under immensely mysterious circumstances. He and Katara were deeply in love, but he eventually started to withdraw from the others, growing silent, distant. One night, he left upon the back of his flying bison, Appa, with his pet flying lemur, Momo, with nothing but his staff and the clothes on his back. Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Iroh never saw him again. Katara was left heartbroken and deeply impacted by the suddenness of his disappearance. Though they never saw him again, they had heard rumors from Iroh's clients of his deeds as Avatar: stopping in villages and granting miracles and leaving by the next morning. Nobody knew why Aang has become so withdrawn. Only he knew why: he has chosen to embark on a journey to find Enlightenment as the Avatar and finish detaching himself from the physical world. He was also following a rumor he had heard in Ba-Sing-Se once. Riding on that sliver of hope, he started his aimless journey, never once glancing back._

_Shortly after Aang's disappearance, Sokka wanted to leave for Kyoshi Island to reunite with Suki, and Katara wanted to go with him to continue to the South Pole, back home. They packed their belongings and rode home across the vast land of the Earth Kingdom. They took a boat to Kyoshi Island, and Sokka had a heartwarming reunion with Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors. Katara stayed on the island for some days, and then continued to the Southern Water Tribe on her own. Alone on a boat filled with strangers, she spent restless nights weeping. Why did Aang leave her? She could never understand and suffered quietly and alone until she finally arrived to the inviting cold of her desolate home. She was received with open arms by her father Hakoda and Gran-gran. She visited Sokka on Kyoshi Island frequently with her father, and Sokka and Suki visited them just as often as well in the Southern Water Tribe. Sometimes, they even visited Toph and Iroh in Ba-Sing-Se. With time, Katara's heart healed, but it still felt empty._

_Toph never left Ba-Sing-Se and instead became the head of the Dai Lee, a task fit for the world's first and only Metalbender (she claims this makes her the best Earthbender in the world). She frequently visits Iroh in his teashop whenever she is not drilling her soldiers. She has blossomed into a beautiful young woman, but her brazen attitude remained as stubborn as a rock—no man could approach her without enough courage. After having been made the leader of the new Earth King's elite benders, she visited her parents for the sole purpose of rubbing it in their faces. She finally proved to them that she wasn't the frail girl they believed her to be and that she could fare perfectly well without their unnecessary coddling. In a proud and triumphant exit, she never once looked back on them to see if they cried. She never once visited or contacted them after that. She never once cared… too much._

_Iroh never left his teashop in Ba-Sing-Se, being perfectly happy in this station in life. He was once a great general of the Fire Nation Army, but that did not matter, for his happiness lied in tea. The peace this retired life provided him was perfect; it was just what he needed after the years of war and exile. Such an idle life allowed for his mind to drift, and sometimes it would drift to his dead son, Lu-Ten, and an occasional tear would run down his plump cheek. He would whisper quietly to himself, "Soon, my son, we will be together again."_

_This was the peace at which everyone was at, not quite perfectly happy, but enough that they could ignore the gaping holes in each their hearts. They lived separate lives, but one day—like the flutter of a butterfly's wings—one event sets off a chain like exploding firecrackers, causing the strings of their lives to inevitably tie together once again._

__Author's Note:

Reviews are the most welcome thing here. It's pretty rusty and frankly it's been lying around since long before Legend of Korra premiered. So yes, this is an alternate universe and the style probably sucks. Feel free to praise the work if it turned out to be a pleasant surprise and you look forward to more. Please, let me know! Encouragement will keep me going! Maybe you think the idea is good but it's carried out poorly, that's fine too. You think the style is a little juvenile? Don't sweat it; tell me because I don't want it to stay that way. Maybe everything about this reeks of "BAD BAD BAD," in which case you can kindly (or cruelly; your choice!) leave a comment and tell me that everything about this SUCKS. Any and all commentary is welcome. Well, let's keep it mature and relevant, of course. I want to learn from you all. Thank you!

P.S. This is my "debut" on this site, too! So uh, hi!


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